Transitional Teams Update

​Briefly, the Transition Teams are engaged in the following as of March 19, 2026:

• History: the posters are up in the hallway west of the fellowship hall and Jack McGrew announced that the next step will be to digitize all the posters so the information is stored for future use.  If you have not perused the posters, it is a job very well done, giving us a strong sense of our common past.
• Mission and Vision: Also working with posters with mission and vision statements that congregants were able to respond to in the fellowship hall this past Sunday.  The statements were driven by the survey, our world cafes, and a review of other churches with similar values.  The team will continue to gather feedback.
• Leadership: Conducting a deep review of the Constitution and looking at splitting the Constitution into two parts: the Constitution itself, which would be short and to the point, emphasizing the timeless values that are at the core of our beliefs; and Bylaws, which would be the manner in which Plymouth "lives" our values.  This split is very common among other UCC congregations and offers future leaders and congregants both a solid core of beliefs and the capacity to be flexible as circumstances change in how we live out those beliefs.
• Futures Team: Gathering information from all other teams and looking at an "inspirational" strategic planning model for the next few years.  An inspirational strategic planning model focuses on mobilizing teams through a shared purpose and core values rather than using a top-down, linear process.t energizes stakeholders by brainstorming aspirational, far-reaching goals, often utilizing methods like appreciative inquiry to build on strengths and passion.
• Survey Team: This group is working to provide an executive summary, to a quantitative evaluation of the survey questions and a qualitative evaluation of the written comments at the end of the survey.  All this information will be made available to the congregation as it is completed.
• Building Use Committee: Working on gathering information from staff and other teams.  Will both continue to meet and gather input. 
• Search Committee: Meeting weekly.  Due to confidentiality for any applicants, no update can be given at present but the team is hard at work on this crucial task. Learn more at plymouthucc.org/search. 

---

Process

• Leadership Retreat - done
• Covenant Transitional Ministry Teams - done
• Begin creating a Plymouth Congregational Timeline - goal date: October 31
• Begin creating a Congregational Study Using Appreciative Inquiry methods - goal date: October 15
• Distribute the All-Church Survey - goal date: October 15, Collate and Share Results - goal date: October 31
• Cottage Meetings: Record Anecdotal Data, Review Survey Results, Create additional survey if needed (goal date set after Survey is complete)
• The results of the surveys are used to create the final questions for the World Cafes (late winter, after Christmas)
• Hold All-Church World Cafes and Hold Series of All-Church Straw Votes (spring, after Easter)
• Complete Congregational Study by agreeing upon Pastoral, Governance and Staff Models (late spring, before summer break)

---

5 Focus Points of our Transitional Process:

(click on the icon to read the full descriptions) 

• Heritage (History) – Where did we come from? How have things always been done? Led by Jack McGrew
• Leadership – Lay Leadership, Pastoral Leadership, Foundational Documents, Constitution, Policies. Led by Nina Burkardt
• Mission – Who are we, what is our Mission Statement and does it fit us now? Strategic Planning, Led by Greg and Sue Rutherford
• Connections – United Church of Christ, Fort Collins, wider communities, Led by Rod Clough
• Future – Leading into the Search and Call process, Strategic Planning, Led by Marilyn Votaw​

e-mail the Heritage Team

E-Mail the Leadership Team

E-Mail the Connections Team

E-Mail the Mission/Vision Team

E-Mail the Future Team